for miles

sunrise

north

evening

obstacles

When little obstacles crop up on the spiritual path, a good practitioner does not lose faith and begin to doubt, but has the discernment to recognize difficulties, whatever they may be, for what they are—just obstacles, and nothing more. It is the nature of things that when you recognize an obstacle as such, it ceases to be an obstacle. Equally, it is by failing to recognize an obstacle for what it is, and therefore taking it seriously, that it is empowered and solidified and becomes a real blockage.

a glimpse

cut and paste

deck shadow

heartbreaking

When we finally know we are dying, and all other sentient beings are dying with us, we start to have a burning, almost heartbreaking sense of the fragility and preciousness of each moment and each being, and from this can grow a deep, clear, limitless compassion for all beings.

a glimpse

drama

right on the beach

October

waiting

There is almost no work in life as hard as waiting... All motion is easier than calm waiting... So many people have marred their work and hindered the growth of their spiritual lives by too much activity. If I wait patiently, preparing myself always, I will be one day at the place where I want to be. Much impatient activity could not accomplish this so soon.

- Alan L. Roeck

returning

honor/love

I have learned not to worry about love; but to honor its coming with all my heart.

-Alice Walker

drive by

eucalyptus

dreams

At first dreams seem impossible, then improbable, then inevitable.

-Christopher Reeve

grapes, cont.

grapes

parents

Children do not know how their parents love them, and they never will till the grave closes over those parents, or till they have children of their own.

-Edmund Vance Cooks

tree

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.


by Mary Oliver

above

refuge

...this is a time for taking refuge, for going into a place of shelter, comfort or restoration. It is a call to rest and being. Take refuge in the clarity that is the essence of your being. We can take refuge in almost anything, it is a natural human reaction and need. But the only place we can truly experience refuge is in the moment...

from on a wing and a prayer

decal

reflected

mirror

Through love and sincerity continuously beautify your inner life in every way, by daily looking into the mirror of introspection.

-Paramahansa Yogananda

DC

body

So far as past errors are concerned, forget them and start afresh, as if it were your first day in this body; but so far as your present contacts are concerned, be kind to them, as if it were your last day in this body.

-Paul Brunton

push pin

multiples

stopping

stopping ...waiting for the soul to catch up

-Aboriginal practice

fall

Greenmount

on the face of it